Country singer Merle Haggard is recovering from lung cancer surgery, his family announced Wednesday.

"Merle has undergone the removal of a cancerous growth in his right lung," the 71-year-old singer's wife, Theresa Haggard, said on his website, "Merle is recuperating from the surgery and doing better and better each day."

Haggard, who has had more than three dozen No. 1 songs since 1966, learned of the spot on his lung in May. Haggard, a former smoker, told The Bakersfield Californian in August that he wasn't going to seek treatment, but friends and family members persuaded him to agree to surgery.

Doctors say they can't speculate on Haggard's chances for a cure without knowing the details of his case.

But the fact that Haggard had surgery may be an encouraging sign, experts say, because doctors generally only operate on patients who are healthy enough to withstand a difficult procedure like lung surgery. Many patients aren't eligible for surgery because their lungs are too damaged from years of smoking, says David Johnson, director of hematology and oncology at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, who is not involved in treating Haggard.

"The surgery itself can be difficult, but in the hands of a good thoracic surgeon, a patient can be out of the hospital in a very short time — even a few days," Johnson says. Recovery usually takes several weeks, although recovery time depends on the patient's overall health going into surgery.

The most common type of lung tumor is non-small cell lung cancer. For patients with an early tumor of this kind — one that hasn't spread to other organs — surgery is usually considered the best treatment, Johnson says. Patients often follow surgery with chemotherapy, to kill any lingering cancer cells.

Patients with early lung cancers who are too sick for surgery may still be cured with radiation, with or without additional chemo, Johnson says.

Lung cancer kills more Americans than any of other type of tumor, according to the American Cancer Society. Lung cancer causes 29% of all cancer deaths. More people die of it than colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined.

The society estimates that 215,020 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease this year, and 161,840 will die from it.

The average age at diagnosis is about 71, according to the cancer society.

The earlier a person is diagnosed, the more likely he or she is to survive, according to the society. Overall, only 15% of patients live five years or longer. When cancer is found early, however, half of patients live that long. If cancer has spread around the body by the time of diagnosis, only 3% live five years. More than 400,000 people alive today have been diagnosed with lung cancer at some point in time.

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